Rupert Murdoch's tabloid, The Sun is synonymous with controversies. On Friday, four senior journalists were cleared of making illegal payments to public officials. The latest reporters are to be acquitted after a substantial police investigation.
The journalists, the chief reporter and royal editor, the deputy editor and the newspaper's executive editor were found not guilty of making illegal payments to military figures for information, which also included details on Prince William and Prince Harry.
On the other hand, a former Ministry of Defence employee was jailed for a year after proof of the newspaper paying £100,000 for passing on stories.
After the verdict, the newspaper's royal editor, Duncan Larcombe stated, “There is no celebration whilst this witch hunt continues against my colleagues who are still facing the nightmare that I hopefully one day will wake up from."
This extensive police investigation into illegal payments emerged from an inquiry about phone hackings journalists from the News of the World newspaper. This consequently led to the imprisonment of Andy Coulson, the ex-editor of News of the World along with several other senior members of staff in June 2014.
The four journalists were found not guilty by a jury at London's Old Bailey criminal court after 10 days of contemplation.